And they certainly did it (42 years ago on this date) with the great assistance of MTV during their launch in 1981. I like the fact that the video
wasn't comissioned by the network, since it was originally released in 1979 and bear in mind that the song, by predicting the future The Buggles had as
their concept the idea of what the future would be like with cameras all around, futuristic sets crowded with artefacts, television screen and those huge
glasses worn by the lead singer. Early MTV with those countless colorful new wave/pop videos end up being exactly like that.
Even with two years of delay, the video was perfect for the zeitgeist of the television of the future with countless images, colors and sounds going on, and from there countless of iconic music videos, with Hollywood budgets and filmmakers being part of that, or even sending starting the careers of many future film directors who managed to replicate their style of cinematography and editing to the big screen.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is catchy, highly memorable and quite fun to hear it; the video is quite alright but for a generation it was the beginning of a new era, the visual era where consuming music wasn't just with our ears but also with the images. The world was never the same afterwards.
As for the radio star, many of them had to reinvent their careers and follow the trend. But whenever I hear the song or its title alone I keep thinking of Christopher Cross and his supernova career with a best-selling multi-Grammy-award winning debut album in 1979 - a true radio star - but when MTV came on the scene it was as if he vanished. He made a couple of videos, being "Charm the Snake" the one that could really get an MTV audience with its presentation revolving racing cars. But poor guy never had the chance to compete with the then new musical scene, or at least find a young audience to follow him. So, The Buggles proved a point and MTV felt the need to have such song is their kickstart. Thus, becoming a classic. 8/10.
Even with two years of delay, the video was perfect for the zeitgeist of the television of the future with countless images, colors and sounds going on, and from there countless of iconic music videos, with Hollywood budgets and filmmakers being part of that, or even sending starting the careers of many future film directors who managed to replicate their style of cinematography and editing to the big screen.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" is catchy, highly memorable and quite fun to hear it; the video is quite alright but for a generation it was the beginning of a new era, the visual era where consuming music wasn't just with our ears but also with the images. The world was never the same afterwards.
As for the radio star, many of them had to reinvent their careers and follow the trend. But whenever I hear the song or its title alone I keep thinking of Christopher Cross and his supernova career with a best-selling multi-Grammy-award winning debut album in 1979 - a true radio star - but when MTV came on the scene it was as if he vanished. He made a couple of videos, being "Charm the Snake" the one that could really get an MTV audience with its presentation revolving racing cars. But poor guy never had the chance to compete with the then new musical scene, or at least find a young audience to follow him. So, The Buggles proved a point and MTV felt the need to have such song is their kickstart. Thus, becoming a classic. 8/10.